Hunger for a hundred years

Chapter 36 (16)
He Jianshen, who had already been so cold that he couldn't breathe, was like a hungry person who suddenly saw a red sweet potato. He crossed his thighs, squatted into a horse stance, raised his hands and dropped his hands. The wooden clapper rang twice as if answering, and then a burst. A soothing aria.This aria is like cotton clothes, like food, which suddenly arouses everyone's emotions.Those standing in the fields holding the plowshares and those cheering on the slopes all opened their mouths to let the increasingly fierce cold wind pour into their stomachs.The aria played for a full 2 ​​minutes before turning to rapid drum beats.He Jianshen, that is really a master!If you hadn’t heard such a clapper in a remote high mountain village, you would have thought it was made by a veteran of a famous band, and you would even think of the slightly closed eyes and flying long hair. The rush clapper is like a stimulant, Make people go crazy for it.This lasted for about a minute, when He Jianshen retracted the clasp in his hand suddenly, and the banging stopped abruptly.He opened his voice and sang a joke compiled by He Kuiyuan:

The business is in front of the eyes,
The plowshares land a good crop.

If you sit and wait for the crops to grow,
Better to rake the fields earlier!
As soon as the singing fell, 20 people knocked on the bang together, and the whole Hejiapo rolled with waves of bang.

Since the "Great Leap Forward", there has not been such a scene for many years. The "Cultural Revolution" was more thrilling than the "Great Leap Forward", but in He Zhongbao's view, it was just a festival for urbanites. I heard that at that time, urbanites wanted to overthrow a certain person, so they asked him to lead the parade. From morning to noon, from noon to evening, to late night, until the caller became dizzy and finally shouted a few wrong words.The contents of the slogans are all "supreme instructions", and it is a natural counter-revolutionary to shout one word wrong, let alone a few words, and even the meaning of the entire sentence is reversed.This method of manipulating people is reasonable, without showing any traces, can it work in the countryside?For example, how does Jiapo allow people on the slope to parade on the mountain road where cattle and sheep such as "Picking Rocks with Hands" and "Ghost Seeing Sorrow" are so scared that their legs tremble when they see them?Even if we go, who will be the audience?A parade without spectators is as boring as a brocade night parade. During the "Cultural Revolution", apart from He Kuiyuan jumping up and down, and firing some sniper guns at the yellow juania tree, it was no fun because of the students' beating here and there; , and then sent Liu Shaoqi to guard the dog by the cowshed in the pigsty.But generally speaking, these have nothing to do with He Zhongbao. He did not experience happiness from the "Cultural Revolution", but felt unprecedented loneliness.Although I felt ashamed when I was slapped, it was more lonely.

Today's movement is different. Of course, the scale of today's movement cannot be compared with the "Cultural Revolution", but it belongs to He Zhongbao!He is the commander of the entire movement and the master of He Jiapo!He looked around the excited crowd, thinking in his heart: Father, I did not disgrace you; he even wanted to say: Father, you are not as good as me
He Zhongbao raised the soft bamboo whip in his hand high.

After more than ten seconds, he swung down violently.The bamboo whip issued a sharp copper rhyme, beating the winter air in all directions, like ice cubes splashing out.The Bangzi team led by He Jianshen suddenly struck again.

The game started.

The cows put on the shackles and stood in the field for a long time. After being hungry for a long time, their legs were already trembling. See why the people behind are hitting it.Their eyes are not friendly, because the person who hit it is not its owner.Only the white-haired boy raised by everyone He immediately stepped forward after the sound of the drum.

In the competition that day, it was not only about plowing more, but also plowing better.He Zhongbao drove Bai'er and drove the plowshare deeply.The soil in winter is condensed by frost and snow. Breaking through a mud wave is like breaking through a glacier.When Bai'er took the first step, he deeply felt the weight it couldn't bear, his body was stretched like an iron rod, his tail stood up, and he struggled to move forward.Due to the early start and the first plow, Baier was in the leading position.But it is old after all. Among all the cattle participating in the competition, it is the grandpa generation, or at least the father generation. After turning the corner and plowing halfway, those young and energetic guys passed it one by one.In a hurry, it not only raised its tail, but also raised its ears.Its hair has become sparse, and people can clearly see the bulging blood vessels on its ears.

Whether it was grinding, rice milling, or plowing, Bai'er never wanted anyone to worry about it, and everyone in the village knew about it, but He Zhongbao still kept whipping his ass with the bamboo whip in his hand.When the second plow passed, there were streaks of blood on its buttocks.When the whistle of the bamboo whip sounded, Bai'er just blinked his eyes, with his loyalty and tenacity, and with his fastest speed, he dragged He Zhongbao's deeper and deeper plowshare forward.In the third plow, there were more and more plows that surpassed Bai'er. He Zhongbao not only whipped his buttocks, but also jumped up and whipped his back, and even tried to hit his ears. After several attempts, he failed.

The bloodstains on Bai'er's body stretched forward, onto his spine.

The bamboo whip overlapped its old wound.Its pale white hair turned into red grass.

He Da stood on the slope to watch the battle.At first, he stood with a few people of about the same age, and later, he hid alone under a clump of yellow wattle trees on the ground, looking at Bai'er through the gaps in the yellow wattle leaves.Every time He Zhongbao swung a whip at Bai Er's body, it felt like it was hitting his heart.His heart is bleeding.He secretly cursed He Zhongbao, but he could not destroy this great campaign to report to the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao's heroic spirit.When he found He Kou, the elder son who was fighting hard with He Jianshen, he couldn't help but feel like a knife was piercing his heart.He Zhongbao is doing short-lived things that are outrageous and unreasonable. He is not only ruining the animals, but also ruining the land. On frosty days, when the land is sleeping, you take off the snow quilt and wake them up loudly. This is hurting the vitality of the land. People cannot do things without sleep, and the land cannot produce crops without sleep. How can you work hard for him?

He Da couldn't understand his son, he didn't know that the current He Kou was encouraged and enlightened by forcing He Zhongbao to repair the house, he was determined to struggle out of the quagmire of being insulted and damaged, from the state of being excluded Get out, take advantage of the great opportunity of your own status, and quickly enter the mainstream society of Hejiapo.He realized that if a person does not integrate into the mainstream, he will always be ignored, always oppressed, and will never be able to shake off the shadow that hangs over his head.And what is the mainstream of Hejiapo?The mainstream of Hejiapo is He Zhongbao!A strange phenomenon is that He Kou had a fight with He Zhongbao once, and he won the fight, but he wanted to get closer to He Zhongbao instead.
He Da couldn't bear to watch it any longer, his thick black and cracked palms covered his whole face.

However, tears still dripped down the wrinkles on his face.Dip from between your fingers outwards.

He Jiangao came over, squatted beside He Da, and said nothing.After a while, he said softly, "Why are you sad? It's not your cow. The cow belongs to the team. You are just helping to raise it. Why are you sad?"
He Da took his hand away.He wanted to look at Bai'er, but he didn't dare to look, and only said in a crying voice, "Jiangao, have you ever seen someone treat animals like this?"
"I can't find it anywhere in the world!"
He Da took the cigarette that Jiangao lit for him, took two deep puffs, and said, "I can't find it anywhere in the world—it's a shit!"
After a brief conversation, the two fell into silence again.

People have been in the bitter wind and cold for most of the day, and the cattle dragging the plowshares have worked intensively for more than three hours.Bulls don't understand the great meaning of "sports". Therefore, they can't be like people, who can strengthen their energy and drive away fatigue.For Niu, at the back, the comparison is not speed, but life.There are two long saliva hanging from the mouth of each cow. The saliva is white and swaying in the wind like rags. The tongue of the cow rolls from time to time, rolling the liquid flowing out of their bodies into the mouth. Stomach, to relieve fatigue and hunger.

When He Da finally couldn't help looking at Bai Er, he was stunned.Sweat flowed down Bai'er's belly, but beside its mouth, there were two white pillars.It was ice formed from the froth in the mouth.That is to say, it didn't even have the strength to roll its tongue, and the white foam accumulated there, and finally froze.

He Jiangao also saw the two glaring white pillars, saw He Da's bulging eyes, and said, "The last plow, the last plow."
Yep, the race is down to the last plow.There were yells in the field like when chasing sparrows, and the bang sound became more intense.

However, the cow crawled forward like a snail. No matter how the people behind the buttocks whipped the fierce bamboo whips on their bodies, they remained indifferent.He Da saw that Bai Er had fallen to the end.He Zhongbao scolded endlessly, and the bamboo whip in his hand was never idle for a moment.It could be seen that Bai'er also wanted to fight for his breath. Its neck stretched out as straight as a steel pipe, proving that it was digging out all the strength in the bones.But it was powerless, no matter how much He Zhongbao scolded or beat him, its speed slowed down irreparably.The gap it pulls down is getting farther and farther.He Da found out that Bai'er himself felt ashamed, and there were tears in the corners of his eyes.

The last plow takes at least three plows ahead.People were waiting patiently for who would reach the finish line first, and a thrilling scene stunned them: Bai'er dragged the plowshare and rushed forward!
The person behind its buttocks, like a fly biting an ox's tail, was dragged to the finish line by it.

Bai'er helped He Zhongbao get No.1.

When Bai'er reached the finish line, he was still attacking violently, but the high field ridge made him kneel on his front legs and fell down.

At this time, people discovered: He Zhongbao stabbed the bamboo whip into Bai'er's anus!

On the eighth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, He Da's family, except for He Kou, a group of six people, big and small, hunched their backs and walked towards the weir pond.This is a strange team.He Da walked ahead, wearing filial piety clothes and handkerchiefs, holding a red lacquered wooden box in his arms. On the wooden box was a piece of white radish cut into rectangular blocks. On the white radish, a pair of red fish were burning. Wax, with a few sticks of burning cypress incense.Surrounded by the scent of cypress, He Da wept silently; He Ji hung his head, carrying a shovel, and followed He Da closely. , He Yue's back hooked down, her eyes were rolling, she was afraid of being seen by others, she looked very embarrassed; I took He Ben's hand and walked in the back, and He Ben held a round firecracker in his other hand.

He Da stopped in front of He Di's grave.As soon as he stopped, everyone behind us stopped.He Ji gave He Da a strange look, and asked, "Where to dig?"
"It's right here." He Da pointed to the right side of He Di's grave. (On the left is Xu Lian's grave, and on the left is Chen Yuexiang's grave).

He Ji dug the shovel into the soil, stepped on it, and then bent upwards, and a lump of loess was shoveled up.

The pit was not dug deep, and He Ji was already sweating profusely.He stopped.

"Deeper." He Da said.

He Ji was a little unhappy, but he still raised his shovel.Like He Kou, he disapproved of his father's actions, but he did not oppose He Da as clearly as He Kou did.

After the pit was dug, He Da put the wooden box in, held the shovel himself, covered the soil, and then dug some soil from the nearby field, and piled the soil high.Afterwards, he knelt in front of the soil bag, kowtowed four times, took the firecrackers from He Ben's hand, lit the match, put the fish wax and cypress incense on it, and then led the family back.

Everyone on the slope watched the family's strange behavior.At first, they thought they were offering sacrifices to their ancestors, but no matter where, whether Xu Lian, Chen Yuexiang, including He Xingneng and his wife, they didn't die on this day, nor were they born on this day. How could they choose to sacrifice today? ?According to the rural folklore, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the birthday of the cow (Hejiapo people stubbornly believe that all cows in the world are born on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month), so why don’t they treat their ancestors and wives as livestock?They were snickering, concluding that He Da had lost his king, that the whole family had gone crazy, and that they regarded their ancestors or wives as cows.Later, when they saw He Ji digging a hole and He Da buried a wooden box in the hole, they became confused and felt a little mysterious.They ran into the yard one after another and asked He Kou who was sitting under the orange tree who was aggrieved, and then they realized that He Da really buried a cow!
Not a whole ox, but a small lump of meat and a hoof.

It was on Bai'er's body, and it was given to He Da after the dying Bai'er was killed and stripped.He Zhongbao killed Pao Baier with both hatred and pleasure. On the night of the end of the plowing competition, he went down the mountain with a penny torch and reported to the one-eyed secretary at the brigade. The next day, he went to the commune .What made him sad was that both the one-eyed secretary and the secretary of the commune were surprisingly indifferent to this. The secretary of the commune even said: "What's the use of plowing the fields now? Once the black forest (frost) hits, don't we have to plow again in the beginning of spring?" He Zhongbao felt particularly He is useless and blames He Da and the white boy he raised for it.After that, Bai'er didn't eat for three consecutive days, and He Dazheng told everyone in the family: don't let this news out!He secretly invited Jiangao for diagnosis and treatment. Jiangao said that Bai'er's illness was serious and he couldn't be cured. Jiangao said that there was a veterinarian named Li in Qingshigou who was very skilled. Go ask him to get some medicine.He Dalian went to Qingshigou eighty miles away at night.As soon as he was out, He Kou disclosed the news to He Zhongbao. He Zhongbao had nowhere to vent his cowardice. The next morning, he took the team cadres to He Dan's cattle pen to inspect, and said, "Anyway, it's a useless cow." , Jianshen, kill it, and let the commune members replenish their deficiencies." He Da returned home with the herbs that Dr.
The news that He Da buried the beef next to his father's grave was like the plague, which spread to several neighboring villages in one day, and three days later, it spread to the Dongba farm.Within a week, almost the entire Dongba commune was spreading the joke.

Someone asked: "How big is it? Which one is so big?"
"He Da still doesn't know? It's the one who has been begging for 20 years since he was a child, and he has been begging for [-] years! Oh, he also came to us to beg for food, and he was a son of the Wu family for a year. His hair is old. Long, like a savage. You were not married then."
"No wonder, I haven't been a serious person since I was a child!"
When Principal Lu of Sunrise Middle School heard about it, the muscles on his face twitched almost uncontrollably, and finally stopped, he grinned and said with a big smile, "Fortunately, that lunatic's son was not allowed to go to high school!" Principal Lu is already better I haven't laughed so much in years.

He Da and his family are more famous than before, his legendary and unlucky experience, his life's poverty, his madness, even his father who was killed by a mad dog, and his beautiful mother who still makes women jealous. It became the basis for his and his family's fame.Such fame is not good for him or his family.

Finally came the consequences.The direct victim was He Kou who did not participate in the burial of Bai'er's broken body.

He Kou is 22 years old this year, but he still hasn't mentioned his younger sister (fiancee).In the past, although none of them claimed to be successful, but every month or two, someone always came to propose a matchmaker. Now, after a long time, not a single matchmaker came to the door.

(End of this chapter)